Lyr Req: The Ballad of Mad Jack (Schooner Fare)

Subject: Lyr Req: The ballad of mad jack/Schooner Fare
From: saulgoldie
Date: 02 Aug 11 - 11:32 PM

If anyone has them conveniently. I could transcribe them from the song. But if they are already out there, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Saul

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The ballad of mad jack/Schooner Fare
From: saulgoldie
Date: 02 Aug 11 - 11:39 PM

Partial...

In a tumble down graveyard in Barnstable Mass.,
Hangs a humble reminder to those who might pass
And notice the shingle high over the grave,
That honors the bones of Mad Jack.

He was born Johnny Percival, on Scorton Hill,
A contrary lad from the goin'
He ran off to sea just to prove he was free,
And was sixty long years in returnin'.
With just nine months of school he departed this land,
He moved up from cabin boy hand-over-hand,
Impressed by the English to service their king,
As he jumped overboard they could all hear him sing:

CHORUS: Come a sailor, come a soldier, come a captain a king,
If you dare me to do it I'll do anything,
I'll take up the fight, I'll even the odds,
I'll do what is right or I'm not from Cape Cod
I'm Jack the cantankerous cuss from Cape Cod.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BALLAD OF MAD JACK (Steve Romanoff)
From: saulgoldie
Date: 02 Aug 11 - 11:50 PM

Gottem! From Schooner Fare's home page:
(Chords, anyone?)

THE BALLAD OF MAD JACK
Steve Romanoff

In a tumbledown graveyard in Barnstable, Mass.,
Hangs a humble reminder to those who might pass
And notice the shingle high over the grave,
That honors the bones of Mad Jack.
He was born Johnny Percival, on Scorton Hill,
A contrary lad from the goin'
He ran off to sea just to prove he was free,
And was sixty long years in returnin'.
With just nine months of school he departed the land,
He moved up from cabin boy hand-over-hand,
Impressed by the English to service their king,
As he jumped overboard they could all hear him sing:

        Come a sailor, come a soldier, come a captain, a king,
        If you dare me to do it I'll do anything,
        I'll take up the fight, I'll even the odds,
        I'll do what is right or I'm not from Cape Cod,
        I'm Jack the cantankerous cuss from Cape Cod.

In 1813, Jack started to work
On a plan to reopen the port of New York,
The British blockade had everyone down,
So Mad Jack decided to turn it around:
He borrowed a fisherman's smack, so I'm told,
Put goats on the deck and armed men in the hold,
When a tender of Red Coats dared pull him aside,
His men came out shootin' as proudly he cried,

        Chorus

Did you hear how Mad Jack saved "Old Ironsides" too,
From the scrapheap of flagships too old to renew,
At sixty-five years he inspected each shroud,
And promised the Navy he'd make her stand proud.
He collected the finest ship-riggers around,
From Boston, New Bedford, and Old Portsmouth Town,
He rigged her and jigged her and made her stand tall,
Then he sailed her around the world once and for all.

        Chorus (repeat)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The ballad of mad jack/Schooner Fare
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 07:44 AM

Interesting song, based on historical records.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad of Mad Jack (Schooner Fare)
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Nov 17 - 12:52 AM

Why dose he say he's not from Cape Cod then says Cod,
       I'm Jack the cantankerous cuss from Cape Cod?

?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad of Mad Jack (Schooner Fare)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Nov 17 - 02:14 AM

Hi -
the phrase in question is:

I'll do what is right or I'm not from Cape Cod,
I'm Jack the cantankerous cuss from Cape Cod.

It's an interesting idiomatic construction that's fairly common in American English.

I can't recall any other examples right off. Maybe something like:

I can catch a shark in my bare hands,
Or I'm not Barnacle Bob the Sailor.
I'm Barnacle Bob the Sailor.

(apologies to Barnacle Bill)

Here's a recording of "The Ballad of Mad Jack":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2sBJx-bnTQ

(may not be playable in Europe)

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad of Mad Jack (Schooner Fare)
From: vectis
Date: 02 Nov 17 - 03:24 AM

Not Mad Jack Fuller of Sussex then?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad of Mad Jack (Schooner Fare)
From: EBarnacle
Date: 03 Nov 17 - 08:10 PM

Definitely not. There is at least one book about him.